Our activities now affect the entire planet. But there’s a vital debate over when we started disrupting these systems. Was it 1950 – or hundreds and thousands of years earlier?
Articles on Ecosystems
Displaying 101 - 120 of 319 articles
The forests around Mount Mabu in Mozambique are rich in biodiversity, including some newly discovered species.
Building a culture where fire is respected rather than feared is essential to maintain resilient landscapes.
Beavers are an important ecosystem engineer in the boreal forest and researchers are demystifying their secrets.
Mangroves and salt marshes pump out methane – but soak up carbon dioxide. Overall, the world’s coasts are a net greenhouse sink – and we must preserve them
Reintroducing wolves can restore important ecological processes, but it can have unintended effects when smaller predators like coyotes are driven closer to people, a team of ecologists found.
The rapidly changing climate presents many challenges for the sustainability of forest ecosystems. Assisting the migration of trees is a tool to address these challenges.
Data from 123 sites across all continents, including Antarctica, show mosses affect all major soil functions critical for sustaining life on Earth.
Fascination with shiny technological gadgets may divert scarce resources from the on-the-ground approaches we need to restore degraded ecosystems around the world.
New research shows that northern peatlands may not help regulate our climate by the end of the century.
Fires here can affect meltwater timing and water quality, worsen erosion that triggers mudslides, and much more, as two scientists explain.
We cannot afford to ignore kelp – these vibrant underwater forests have sustained people and ecosystems for centuries, and continue to do so today.
When we stopped whaling, the whales recovered. But our vital kelp forests won’t return without our help
Although it has been considerably less studied than other environmental problems, salinization presents major challenges for biodiversity in freshwater and coastal areas.
To give native species their best chance of survival, we have to embrace ecosystem-based conservation – rather than trying to rescue individual species in isolation.
Conservation practitioners and policymakers must organize and prioritize the management of habitats around whether species are more beneficial or harmful to biodiversity.
Nigeria’s incoming president must prioritise environmental protection to avert further loss of the country’s biodiversity.
Neuroactive compounds in antidepressants enter our wastewater and affect how fish function. Identifying the potential damage to fish is paramount for protecting our aquatic ecosystems.
Digital technologies have the potential to yield positive results, if co-developed and used ethically with Indigenous communities.
Polar bears and wolves may get the glory, but small predators like weasels, foxes and their cousins play outsized ecological roles. And many of these species are declining fast.
Top contributors
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Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
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Professor in Conservation Science, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland
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Associate Professor, Global Ecology, University of Sydney
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ARC Future Fellow, Queensland University of Technology
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Honorary Research Fellow, University of Sydney
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Professor in Ecology, Charles Sturt University
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Professor, Obafemi Awolowo University
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Research fellow, Charles Sturt University
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Professor Emerita, Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University
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Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University
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Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Node Leader in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures, Flinders University
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Lecturer in Ecology, University of New England
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Associate Professor in Ecology, Charles Sturt University
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Ecologist and Researcher, Flinders University
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Professor in Biodiversity and Conservation, The University of Queensland